Well, this is some convenient timing: it was only just yesterday that we were thinking about the Pebble watch, the smartphone-connected accessory with a low-power electronic ink display. We took the opportunity to wonder about just when the watch would finally become available, after earlier hearing news that it wouldn’t make it to the hands of its Kickstarter backers before the end of the year. There’s still not a hard date for when to expect Pebble, but it very much looks like the last pieces of its launch are starting to fall into place, upon seeing the watch get its FCC certification.

No, there isn’t some new cellular-connected Pebble in the works; even without long-range communication capabilities, the FCC is still interested in making sure the watch’s Bluetooth operation is up to snuff. Unlike some of the secretive smartphone filings we see, Pebble’s is pretty open, with lots of images of the watch (not that there are any surprises there), as well as a short user manual.

With any luck, Pebble will finally start shipping early-on in 2013. The most recent update on the project’s Kickstarter page has the team finalizing the details of assembly and testing before mass production can get started.